Hp Photosmart C5280 All In One Photo Printer Review And Cartridge Choice

The HP Photosmart C5280 shows how goodaverage for this category; colour documents
design can tame an inherently complicatedaveraged 2.4ppm overall, also a bit below average.
machine. This inkjet multifunction printer has aAt default settings on plain paper, text looked
few limitations and a mountain of benefits , allslightly feathery and jagged; photos looked a bit
available for under £100.grainy. Special paper and settings yielded
Installation takes almost no effort. The setupsmoother, more subtly coloured photos. Costs
leaflet is a little hard to read because it stacksper printed page (calculated using HP's estimated
three languages' worth of narrative next to eachcartridge yields) are reasonable.
illustration, but the CD-based installation process isThe HP Photosmart C5280 produced scans and
fully automated. The HP Photosmart C5280copies quickly, and they looked good overall. The
comes with a USB connection, but no ethernetincluded HP Scanning software lets you preview
port.and edit images before saving a file. Copies
The HP Photosmart C5280's control panel is oneseemed a little chunkier than the originals, but not
of the best we've seen. Most buttons are clearlydistractingly so.
labeled with real words as well as icons, and all areThe HP Photosmart C5280 has the quantity, sizing
grouped by major function. A 2.4in, tiltable LCDand other copying features that most home and
shows menu options; the navigation buttons makesmall-office users will need, except that the letter
sense. When you're working with photos, the LCDA4-size flatbed scanner can't elevate its lid to
shows thumbnails and walks you through theaccommodate books or other thick media, and
editing and layout options. A redeye-removalcan't scan film or slides.
button automates this common correction. SDThe Photosmart C5280 comes with a wealth of
Card, Compact Flash, xD-Picture Card, and MSsoftware and utilities, much of it launchable from
Pro Duo Card slots are located on the machine'sbuttons on the HP Solutions Center's on-screen
front.interface. In addition to Roxio's disc-labeling
As usual the printer arrives with low capacitysoftware, you get HP's Photosmart Essentials for
cartridges, the black HP350 and colour Hp350,editing and managing digital photos, plus
these should be replaced at renewal time by themaintenance utilities and links for reordering
more economical HP350XL and Hp351XLsupplies directly from HP. An HTML-based manual
cartridges.complements Flash videos that explain common
For paper handling the HP Photosmart C5280tasks like cartridge replacement.
offers a 125-sheet input tray, whose lid serves asRegrettably, the HP Photosmart C5280's manual's
the 50-sheet output tray. Nestled in a slotvarious topics are inadequately linked. For instance,
beneath the input tray is a special tray for CDthe description of how to copy from the control
DVD printing. Snap in a specially coated disc andpanel doesn't link to the description of how to
then slide the tray into a feeder that lowers fromcopy from the PC. But in this case the disconnect
the output area. Roxio's Express Labeler softwareis real. You can manage scan and copy settings
(usually installed automatically during setup, butfrom the HP Solutions Center or from the control
also available on a CD) helps you create thepanel, but one doesn't mirror the other - we could
image for the disc from your PC.create completely different settings for the same
In our printing tests, the HP Photosmart C5280job in each place. The place you send the copy
achieved middling speeds but produced generallycommand from wins the battle, but the two
attractive prints. Plain, black text pages came outought to be synchronised.
at about 7.3ppm (pages per minute) - a bit below